I'm not a professional chef....I just like to play one in the kitchen

Being 1/2 Italian 1/2 Irish can be conflicting for me when it comes to cuisine, but I was raised in the Italian house which means it’s Italian food that dominates in my culinary skills. As a Gluten Free cook some Italian food does present problems I am working on getting around. I have yet to tackle my homemade pasta gluten free yet, but some dishes are far easier to convert then you think. Take for example Eggplant Parmesan, even fried you can use gluten free breadcrumbs and you are good to go.

Sometimes I like the eggplant fried, but other times, like when I get some beautiful sweet “Sicilian” Eggplants from the farmers market such as these beauties below, I like to keep it clean….

I have to say I am thrilled that I have hooked up with the great people at Organic Girl. Getting boxes of healthy greens sent to me monthly to cook with is great! Having their support and trust to create recipes on Zia’s Kitchenfor them is so exciting! It’s funny, I was a huge fan and buying their greens long before they reached out to me through my blog. In fact I was a fan even before I met them on the set of All Mixed Up well over a year ago. ~Interesting note, when they reached out to me via my blog they had no idea I was the same person who worked on the set of All Mixed Up doing the PR and taking all of the publicity shots for them ~ What do you call that? Kismet? Serendipity? Fate?

Whatever you call it my family and I have been eating healthy delicious baby greens of all different varieties and enjoying every minute!…

When you are Gluten Free you don’t get to enjoy very many fried or “crispy” foods you once did. Which is probably a good thing. However for those times you want to make things like breaded eggplant, chicken fingers, zucchini fries or more, most gluten free breadcrumbs just don’t cut it. Panko is out of course. So what do you do? I recently found the answer in Publix completely by accident. While searching to see if they had any new gluten free breadcrumb options I found it.

I am still on my quest to be able to make really amazing Gluten Free Pizza and I keep trucking along. Toppings are not the problem. I have my sauce dialed in. I do everything from simple Margherita to a plethora of fresh amazing toppings. …

Or it could be called Taco Tuesday Madness. Madness because of the undertaking of this meal when you are making (almost) everything from scratch and dealing with 2 kids under the age of 2. A mad undertaking it was, but it was for Mama Sis’s birthday and truth be told I LOVE LOVE LOVE a good fish taco and I have learned to make them pretty decently.

Ok there was a lot to this meal, a few things were store-bought like the corn tortillas for example – I’m not COMPLETELY mental in trying to make those. I also bought a Pico de Gallo and black bean dip this time because I really didn’t have the time and there is already a crazy amount of chopping involved in this meal. The rest however was made by little old me….

I don’t know about you, but I LOVE breakfast. I mean I love food in general…obviously, but breakfast is my favorite meal. Strangely enough breakfast holds many many memories for me, more so then any other meal…particularly “downthashore”. That’s how you say “Going to the beach” if you are from Philadelphia or New Jersey.

Growing up, we had a beach house in Ocean City and most mornings Dad was in charge of breakfast. This was decades before I realized I should be eating Gluten Free so we had pancakes, pork roll sandwiches (another Jersey/Philly thing), sticky buns from Mallon’s…you name it. I even have distinct memories of being at my Dad’s parents beach house – Mommom and JJ and watching my grandmother make cream chipped beef. That was my Irish side of the family….

“Always start out with a larger pot than what you think you need.”
― Julia Child

Or pan. Or baking dish. Or mixing bowl…..

Sage advice from Mrs. Child, and something I occasionally forget to do. Now, due to Littledude’s vehement refusal of greens I have resorted to trickery and deceit these days. Although a lot of dairy is not good for anyone, cheese is the proverbial “Golden Ticket” of ingredients to get him to eat anything green these days so cheesey goodness hiding the veggies is the way I have been going….

In this house most Friday nights are “pizza night”, a night where I make another go at making gluten free pizza from scratch. Yeah I live a wild and crazy life…. I know….. I know

So here we are again on my quest for pizza that doesn’t taste so….gluten free. There are a fair amount of pizza dough mixes on the market it appears <I just did a quick Google search> most of them pricey. Soon however, I am going to have to resort to ordering a new brand off the internet as I think I have tried Bob’s Red Pizza Crust Mixevery which way you can. Many different types of pizzas and calzones have been attempted with varying degrees of …well success is not the correct word here, let’s go with results.…

Confession time. I know that dairy is not good for you. I know humans weren’t “meant to eat” dairy products. I know dairy can cause inflammation, congestion, allergies etc. But here’s the thing.

I. Don’t Care.

Ok I DO care, but I can NOT stop myself from eating cheese. I am Italian and I am allergic to Red Wine, Gluten, and I don’t eat lamb or veal (baby animal issues). All things that drove my late grandmother absolutely NUTS. So if I lose the cheese then I am basically not an Italian! Except I do have the talking with my hands, highly excitable, vicious temper thing going on for me….

I’m going to start this off with a hit, because, well starting off with a fail wouldn’t entice you to come back I am sure. I am also starting out with a VERY simple, rather quick and easy one.

Mini Polenta Pizza’s

Not everybody loves polenta the creamy corn-based dish from Italy. My late grandmother (who taught me so much about Italian cooking and even authored a cookbook) called it “peasant food”, a status that polenta has had for centuries, generally made by the poorer class as the ingredients were much cheaper than the expensive wheat and flours it took to make pasta. You can check out the History of Polenta and learn more about its origins. In this family we happen to love it….